Newly Appointed Minister Distributes Nearly 50 Million in Bonuses

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: "Even after the war, amidst these tight conditions, bonuses are beginning to be distributed within Nikol Pashinyan's government, especially to those institutions that have some financial resources, which do not deprive themselves of the coveted 'bonuses.' We were informed that this is the only means to keep public employees somewhat loyal towards the fragile government. Because the day these bonuses are cut off, the public machinery will rise up and go out into the streets the very next day.

Of course, these 'bonuses' are essential for the employees in lower and mid-level positions, who barely receive 150-200 thousand drams in salary and carry out the main work, but they are rewarded much less compared to their superiors, such as ministers and deputy ministers. In contrast, ministers and deputy ministers reward themselves with hundreds of thousands, and when noise arises over this topic, and the distribution of 'bonuses' is temporarily halted, it is again the employees in the lower ranks who suffer.

In any case, we were informed that in November, a number of institutions, including the Ministry of Economy, resumed the distribution of bonuses that had been halted due to the war. The newly appointed minister, Vahan Kerobyan, has considered the distribution of 'bonuses' as his first holy task upon arrival. We had sent an inquiry to the Ministry of Economy to clarify whether bonuses had been allocated to the employees of the ministry for November, who received them, in what amounts, and for what reasons.

Only five days later did the ministry barely respond to our inquiry, confirming that, yes, bonuses had been distributed there. "A total of 49,175,367 drams (forty-nine million one hundred seventy-five thousand three hundred sixty-seven) have been paid to all employees of the Ministry of Economy for November 2020," they responded from the ministry's staff. However, when asked who received the bonuses and in what amounts, the ministry did not provide information, referring to Articles 134 and 199 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Armenia, according to which the question's answer "contains personal data of the employee, which cannot be disclosed to third parties without the written consent of the employee unless provided by law."